The sports shoe industry in China

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                      The sports shoe industry in China

     A sweatshop is a workplace where workers are subject to extreme exploitation, including the absence of a living wage or benefits, poor working conditions, such as health and safety hazards , and arbitrary discipline, such as physical and psychological abuse.

Brief History: There have probably been sweatshops since one man first began working for another. Although sweatshops certainly existed before, the term "sweatshop" itself did not appear in common usage until the 1890s. Since the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, employers began to look for cheap labor in order to fill the needs of the expanding industries. Sweatshop production came out of hibernation in the late 1960s from U.S. A combination of forces contributed to their reappearance: changes in the retail industry, a growing global economy, increased reliance on contracting, and a large pool of cheap labor-mostly immigrants in the U.S. Nowadays, with the globalization of economy, workers around the world-- from New York and Los Angeles to Bangkok, Spain and San Salvador-- are experiencing the proliferation of sweatshop conditions. Perhaps the sports shoe industry in China is one of the most typical examples of sweatshop.

Most of the sports shoe factories, located in the Pearl River Delta in south China, are set up with Hong Kong and Taiwanese investment. These factories are contracted by Nike or Reebok and Adidas. Almost all of workers in these factories are peasant workers (min gong) who come from rural areas of other provinces, and 90 percent of them are women age 17 to 23. Workers above 25 are usually regarded as too old.  Some of these factories employ children ages under 16. They have a low level of education and are unaware of their legal rights as workers. In general, workers don’t sign any contract with the factory.

Working hour: Long working hours have become standard in the Special Economic Zone since it was set up at the end of 1970s. Most factories require workers to work 10-12 hours a day six or seven days a week, workers get only 2-4 days off every month, not including overtime. During peak seasons, particularly when there are big orders and more work has to be done, the workers work longer hours and are given even fewer days off per month. Workers do not have a choice about doing overtime. If they refuse they would be fined or they lose the entire day's pay.

Working: The factory is run like a prison labour camp. Aside from long working hours, the work is also very stressful. Most of these factories have the quota system. Quotas are set very high and are difficult to meet, but workers have to fulfill it before leaving production lines, so some workers have to work overtime without pay. Moreover, the quota is set to a higher level whenever they reach it [a Nike slogan is `There is no finishing line']. Abuse and fines are common here. While working, the workers are not allowed to talk to their co-workers, and if they disobey this rule, they are warned and then fined. Most of the workers have been yelled at by their supervisors. Workers don’t have contract with employers, so there is no job security. Ironically, few of them know about that. There are some ridiculous examples of dismissals without cause, such as workers fired for being "too old" (i.e. over 25) or for becoming pregnant.

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Pay: The legal minimum wage in Gungdong Province is $1.93 (15Rmb) per hour, The legal minimum for overtime pay is $0.36 (3Rmb) an hour. However, workers in these factories are given $0.96-$1.45 (8-12 Rmb) per hour; workers make $0.19-$0.33 (1.5-2.5Rmb) per hour of overtime, both of these rates are below the legal pay.

Living: most of these factories provide food and housing, but workers must pay for them. There are generally 6-10 people living in a room and they share only one bath. Air condition is poor and has caused many dizzies.

Safety: The working conditions at the factory ...

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